by Doug Nufer

Only in Seattle

One of the potentially biggest news stories of the year broke on Thanksgiving day, but you'd hardly know it if you just read the daily newspapers of Seattle. Britain's highest court ruled that ex-Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet could be extradited to face murder charges in Spain. It was a dramatic decision--which has since been set aside, because of a conflict of interest ruling--with enormous implications for international law. It was also a story with more than a passing interest for the United States, who put Pinochet in power with a CIA-assisted coup in 1973.

The New York Times, Washington Post, and San Francisco Chronicle made it the top story of the day; other dailies, such as the Oregonian, put it on the front page. So where was it in the Hooterville Times and P-I?

The P-I ran it on page 2, understandably reserving top story status for the previous day's Anacortes refinery blast. KOMO newsdoll Kathy Goertzen shared space above the fold with the blast, on account of a brain tumor. Below the fold, Kevorkian was charged with murder (c.f. the exploits of Pinochet), a storm snarled traffic, and a once-angry teen was saved by poetry.

The Times saw fit to put Pinochet on page A-18 of the Thursday paper, which is even more understandable than the P-I putting him on page 2; after all, they ran it the day before: on page 3. What graced the front page of the late Wednesday Hooterville Times? Top story was speculation of what the House of Representatives would do to Clinton, with bigger headlines reserved for a picture of a traffic jam on I-5. Also above the fold, Boeing hired a labor mediator, while below the fold there wallowed companion stories about drug and alcohol abuse.

Blame it on cynicism over Clinton's alleged impeachment diversionary tactic or his failure to manage news coverage the way CIA-alumnus Bush handled the Gulf War, but the daily papers did a nice job of questioning the Iraq attack, right down to documenting the inefficiency of the weapons. Of course, any printed critical coverage of the military looks good when compared to what's on TV.

In one of the best reports of the year, Ted S. McGregor, Jr. probes the impending name change of Washinton Water Power to Avista ("Hasta L'Avista" 12/16/98). Aside from discussing the current trend of power deregulation and documenting his concern that eastern Washinton's electric company may be more interested in wheeling and dealing than in providing basic consumer services, McGregor looks at name changing strategy, anti-trust enforcement lethargy, and examples from history which warn why private ownership of public utilities was outlawed sixty years ago: extending electricity to people living far from the main power station conflicted with the profiteers' imperative to make a buck.

In its bulk mail newsletter, CurbWaste & Conserve, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) announced 1999 rate hikes for ordinary people who need to use the transfer stations. While big dumpers face no increase in fees per ton, fees for folks who do their part to help take out the trash went from $8.50 to $13/ trip for mixed garbage and $6.50 to $10.75 for yard waste.

SPU claims the fee increase was necessary to pay for the service of maintaining a transfer station. SPU also claims that too many people abused the privilege of going to the dump by going too frequently with small loads rather than less frequently with bigger piles of stuff--hence the disproportionate fee structure.

Meanwhile, unofficial transfer stations along Interlaken Boulevard, Cheasty Boulevard, and Monster Road remain open for free or fine in the dark of night, 365 days a year.

Once again the Cedar River Watershed Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) is up for review, at a series of events billed as "workshops" where the public is encouraged to go and make some noise and then go away again so that SPU Director Diana Gale and her minions can get on the business of doing what she knows is best for us. A glossy SPU Citizen Report pamphlet (mailed first class to assorted concerned citizens) presents various HCP options and gives dates and places for public comment.

Listed among five forest management alternatives is the option favored by the mayor, a growing consensus of the city council, and, if they really let us have our say, a majority of people who depend on water from the Cedar River Watershed: no logging at all.

As presented by SPU, this plan to make the whole watershed an ecological reserve appears after four plans that allow for some commercial logging in the watershed. The ecological reserve in the plans that allow logging ranges from 58 percent of the watershed (as it is now) to 68 percent. With names like "Long-term Sustainable Thinning Alternative" and "Thinning to Phase Out Commercial Harvest," some of these alternatives may sound green to the bureaucrats who've spent years devising schemes to milk a few bucks from public land to pay for their projects, but they all amount to one option: continued logging in the area that provides our drinking water.

Public hearings, workshops, or whatever continue. To find dates and places, call Matt Lincecum at SPU, (206) 615-0567 or e-mail: matt.lincecum@ci.seattle.wa.us.

Coming up: Wed., Jan. 20, 7-10 pm at Educational Center, Woodland Park Zoo, 700 N. 50th, Seattle. Sat., Jan 23, 10 am-1 pm at Renton Community Center, 1715 Maple Valley Highway.